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YABA DRUG

YABA

(crazy medicine, pronounced yar bah)

They are tablets containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine, typically brightly colored in orange or green and carrying logos such as “R” or “WY”. They are sometimes called Bhul Bhuliya in India.

Quality varies according to source, most are manufactured for oral administration or ‘chasing’ on foil; there is a brand preferred for injecting from Laos. This illegal drug is especially popular in Thailand, where it is imported from neighboring Burma. In recent years it has also been used by immigrant populations in the United States, and occasionally as a club drug replacing ecstasy.

Yaba tablets were outlawed by the Thai government in 1970; at the time they were sold at gas stations and used by Thai truckers to keep awake. After many horrific long distance bus accidents, and deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s campaign from 2003 onwards to eliminate drug trafficking, use of the drug for bus drivers is not as widespread as it was. Retail prices have risen from 100 – 150 Baht ($3-4) to 250-450 Baht per pill as a result of the crackdown, though it remains a popular party drug.

In 2006-7 Yaba consumption became fashionable for the well-to-do in Bangladesh. A series of highly publicized drug raids in 2007 by authorities implicated some well-known business people there. When Mr Joynal (owner of Hotel Purbani) & his girlfriend Nikita were arrested for the allegation of Yaba smuggling, it generated large media coverage.

Originally manufactured by the Nazis to help keep their troops awake for days, Yaba has become increasingly popular in the Far East amongst claims that the drug is now bigger than heroin in Thailand.

Yaba is a derivative of synthetic amphetamines such as speed and can be manufactured far more quickly and easily than traditional forms of amphetamine. The recipe has spread from the Far East by word of mouth and on the Internet (no, don’t ask us).

We’ve experienced some difficulty getting a consistent description of ingredients and effects, with some reports stating that the drug is mostly methamphetamine, running 80% pure with much of the cut being castoff from heroin production

The drug usually comes in pill form (often red/orange, sometimes green) and with its potent mix of visuals and intense highs, drug experts predict that it may soon become popular on the UK club scene.

Although yaba is still very rare in the UK, drug experts report that the UK is being targeted by yaba producers from the ‘Golden Triangle’ – the drug producing areas which straddle the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos.

The main ingredients, which include salt, household cleaning products, distilled cold medicines and lithium from camera batteries, can be bought legally and the drug easily knocked out at home with a couple of casserole dishes and a hob.

The rewards for criminals can be huge. Around £300 of raw materials can make yaba worth more than £2,000 at British street prices. Since the equipment needed is portable, labs can be moved on a regular basis, making it more difficult for police to track them down.

Side effects:
The drug is claimed to create an intense hallucinogenic effect and can keep users awake for days on end, although some users have reported that the only visuals come as a result of sleep deprivation after binge sessions.

Health risks:
Addictive and/or habit-forming. Regular use of the drug has been linked to lung and kidney disorders, hallucinations and paranoia. A frequent hallucination is ’speed bugs’ or crank bugs’ where users believe that bugs are crawling under their skin and go loopy trying to get them out. In Thailand, the number of students entering rehab to deal with yaba addiction has risen by nearly 1,000% in the past two years (source: Observer 17.10.99) Those coming off the drug are also susceptible to severe depression and suicidal urges.

What is yaba?

Yaba is a combination of methamphetamine (a powerful and addictive stimulant) and caffeine. Yaba, which means crazy medicine in Thai, is produced in Southeast and East Asia. The drug is popular in Asian communities in the United States and increasingly is available at raves and techno parties.

What does yaba look like?

Yaba is sold as tablets. These tablets are generally no larger than a pencil eraser. They are brightly colored, usually reddish-orange or green. Yaba tablets typically bear one of a variety of logos; R and WY are common logos.

Yaba TabletsBureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Yaba TabletsBureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

How is yaba used?

Yaba tablets typically are consumed orally. The tablets sometimes are flavored like candy (grape, orange, or vanilla). Another common method is called chasing the dragon. Users place the yaba tablet on aluminum foil and heat it from below. As the tablet melts, vapors rise and are inhaled. The drug also may be administered by crushing the tablets into powder, which is then snorted or mixed with a solvent and injected.

Who uses yaba?

It is difficult to determine the scope of yaba use in the United States because most data sources do not distinguish yaba from other forms of methamphetamine. Yaba has emerged as a drug of abuse in Asian communities in the United States, specifically in Northern California and in Los Angeles.

Yaba also is becoming increasingly popular at raves, techno parties, and other venues where the drug MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, typically called ecstasy) is used. Drug distributors deliberately market yaba to young people, many of whom have already tried MDMA. The bright colors and candy flavors of yaba tablets are examples of distributors’ attempts to appeal to young people.

What are the risks?

Individuals who use yaba face the same risks as users of other forms of methamphetamine: rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, and damage to the small blood vessels in the brain that can lead to stroke. Chronic use of the drug can result in inflammation of the heart lining. Overdoses can cause hyperthermia (elevated body temperature), convulsions, and death. Individuals who use yaba also may have episodes of violent behavior, paranoia, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia.

Although most users administer yaba orally, those who inject the drug expose themselves to additional risks, including contracting HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), hepatitis B and C, and other blood-borne viruses.

What is it called?

The most common names for yaba are crazy medicine and Nazi speed.

Is yaba illegal?

Yes, yaba is illegal because it contains methamphetamine, a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule II drugs, which include cocaine and PCP, have a high potential for abuse. Abuse of these drugs may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

Hitler’s drug is the new ‘new crack’

In 1940, Hitler’s Luftwaffe invaded allied air space and rained bombs on Great Britain. The Battle of Britain ensued, and in what Churchill called “their finest hour,” the Royal Air Force successfully turned back the German menace. Sixty years later, the country of Shakespeare and the Sex Pistols is hyped up over yet another Nazi-related invasion in a different war that also started long ago — the nearly century-old drug war. Today, a new form of speed that harks back to Nazi-era chemists is on the streets, and it’s far more dangerous than those “mothers’ little helpers” The Rolling Stones used to sing about.

See also…

… by Mike Horowitz
… in the Whoa! section
… from November 10, 1999

Seems like every time the drug reform movement scores a few victories against prohibition a new, more powerful, instantly addicting, and totally deadly drug scourge appears, evidently out of nowhere. Last month, London’s venerable Observer broke the news on the latest drug menace in subtle fashion: “Hitler’s Drug Set to Invade British Clubs.”

“Hitler’s Drug,” or “Nazi Speed,” is popularly known as “yaba,” a Thai word meaning “crazy medicine.” The so-called “Nazi method” of making yaba was revived in Thailand about 30 years ago, and today the drug — popular in discos but also found in high schools — is creating one of the biggest youth drug problems in Southeast Asia. The effects are said to make it the most intense form of speed known, providing multiple hours of high energy and euphoria, followed by the inevitable speed crash. Available in pills or powder form, yaba, like crack, is sometimes smoked in a pipe with heroin, creating the infamous “speedball” effect.

According to TheObserver, “yaba is heading for Britain, amid warnings that it could supercede ecstasy as the drug of choice for the country’s clubbers.” Heading for London… like a German V-2 rocket?

Maybe not. “In my opinion, yaba is crap,” says “Huffalump,” who admits having tried it. “I’m not a tweaker. For people that like to go fast, yaba is the thing. It is not a psychedelic amphetamine, or designer drug, as it has been incorrectly labeled in the press. The [Western] media has attempted to demonize it as ‘Nazi Crank.’ I truly doubt it will replace MDMA as the drug of choice in nightclubs. While I suspect that it will gain a sizable and steady market wherever it is introduced, it lacks the glitz and glamour that ravers crave.”

Nonetheless, the U.S. drug czar and his U.K. counterpart (known there as the “czarette”) and their PR flacks could hardly dream up a better propaganda coup. But apparently the DEA did not come up with this mother-of-all-drug-menace monikers. According to one disgruntled American chemist, some blabbermouth in the speed lab underground is responsible for popularizing the Nazi connection.

The Making of “Nazi Speed”

World War II was largely fought on speed. The American, British, German, and Japanese high commands gave massive quantities of amphetamines to their fighting men, particularly their air forces. Speed was systematically fed to troops to combat fatigue, heighten endurance, and elevate mood.

The primary energizers were Benzedrine, Dexedrine, and Methedrine. When the Nazis couldn’t get the raw materials to continue producing amphetamines in the traditional manner (supplies of standard precursors had dwindled during the course of the long war), Merck Labs came up with something called the “iodophosphorus-ephedrine reaction.”

Everything needed to produce yaba can be purchased legally and apparently you don’t have to be a serious chemist to manufacture it. The cooking time is only a couple of hours, whereas traditional speed formulas take days. Forget the retort stand and Bunsen burner — all you need is a casserole dish. One meth-lab buster compared making it to baking chocolate chip cookies.

The “Nazi method” employs the drug ephedrine, a natural stimulant found in the ephedra bush. (Far Eastern ephedra has a higher concentration of ephedrine than the Western plant.) Ephedrine is quite common, being frequently used in allergy and cold medicines. The other main ingredients of yaba can be found today in common household products: salt, cleaning products, and lithium from camera batteries.

According to TheObserver, UK drug agents believe the recipe has spread from the “Golden Triangle” by word of mouth and on the Internet. Like the importation of the ecstasy dance scene, which British clubbers discovered while vacationing in Ibiza in the 1980s, demand for yaba in Britain is said by the Observer to be “fueled by holidaymakers returning from the Far East.”

If one believes the British press (which is as misinformed and sensationalistic as the American press in matters of drug reporting), yaba has all the earmarks of a major drug menace. First, there’s the Nazi lineage; second, you have the Golden Triangle origin (home of the opium poppy and cheap heroin); third and most importantly, it gets you wired big-time. The Observer, hitting the severe-abuse panic button, warns of intense hallucinations, including “speed bugs,” a susceptibility to “severe depression and suicidal urges,” and grievous bodily harm.

The New Crack, or a Phantom Menace?

Yaba has been known in the U.S. at least since 1996, showing up in Seattle after first appearing on the East Coast. The first reports of yaba in the American press appeared in the Seattle Times that year. A meth chemist, quoted on the origin of the Hitler/ Nazi link, lamented that “the cooks who call it the ‘Nazi method’ so they can sound bad-ass just gave the DEA another meaningless rhetorical piece of garbage they can use for propaganda.”

And what a propaganda tool it is. Like crack and crank before it, yaba is tailor-made to strike fear into the hearts of soccer moms everywhere. Virtually every successful anti-drug campaign utilizes the mass media to alarm the general population with fears about a drug’s:

huge addiction potential (one hit may be enough to hook you for life)

horrible side-effects (which may not be noticeable for years)

potential to cause really bad behavior (users hurt themselves, are a threat to others, or both)

creation and distribution by an insidious foreign power bent on destroying our will and our youth

ease of manufacture from readily obtainable products even by idiots who’ve flunked high school chemistry

Yaba a.k.a. “Hitler’s Drug” — the pedigree alone makes it sound like the most dangerous drug in the world. It’s as if that sick fuck has come back from the grave (or Argentina) to menace us once again. Of course, yaba could simply be yet another “new crack,” arriving just in time to bolster public support for the ever-more-unpopular war on drugs.

In any case, there’s an effective counter-spell that’s been around since 1968. If someone offers you this drug and you feel menaced, remember the mantra: “Yaba-daba-doo. Speed kills (you).”

Michael Horowitz has been a drug historian for 30 years and has edited books by Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Fitz Hugh Ludlow, among others. He also sells first editions of books by such writers by mail order.

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43 Responses to “YABA DRUG”

shonasaid

hello there..the information provided has been of great help.
i have a query which im not sure if you can provide…i wanted to know about ; what happens to patients that have been sent to rehabilitation..once they have not been in contact with this drug for more than 1 or 2 years ..isit normal for them to talk about it..in other words have thoughts that once they are back on this pill…they will be happier and more outgoing? or is that their misconception?

Thnx for u’r querry. Firstly, once someone is habituated n there r some damage in his physical heaith, psychologica health, cognitive mindset, behavioural output; than u must believe that the individual can never come back in his original condition. Please be informed that after even a very successful cosmetic surgery the patient don’t get the original beauty of the skin which is made by GOD himself. Secondly, it depends on the intention of the patient wheather to continue use the drug or to refrain from it. To do that one has to understand the cause effects of the drug use and than decide to be a normal human being in the society or not ! Finally, the psychology of the patient must lead him to know the affects and badside abuse of the drug use. So, all these three principles can make a drug user to STOP further using the drug and make his life smooth, calm and beautiful.

Japanese Kimonossaid

Very good writing. I am glad your posting that. I hope you can accept my apology for my less good English Skills, I am from France and English is sort of new to me. I will bookmark your blog and keep reading.

buy acaisaid

How ya doin, I I discovered your website on google and browse alot of your other pages. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the awesome work. Looking forward to reading more from you in the future. You know, I must say, I really enjoy this blog and the insight from everyone who participates. I find it to be refreshing and very informative. I wish there were more blogs like it. Anyway, I felt it was about time I posted, I?ve spent most of my time here just lurking and reading, but today for some reason I just felt compelled to say this.

monir dhalysaid

shonasaid

If anyone takes htis drug for several years.. basically once they stop. They’re as good as dead. They lose interest in normal things in lifes such as personal hygeine, motivation to work and bring home an earning. They will sit home and dwell about the past.
Give up hope if you have married a yaba addict. Seriously… I waited 5 years. 5 years of my hard work… all down the drain,

safisaid

i used to be a yaba addict….but not anymore. everything you said about withdrawal..you’re spot on. a complete change of environment, forcefully getting busy with something…helps. pls don’t give up hope.

Stalasaid

Have you ever considered publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would appreciate your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.

vimaxsaid

Please tell me that youre going to keep this up! Its so great and so important. I cant wait to read far more from you. I just feel like you know so substantially and know how to make people listen to what youve got to say. This weblog is just also cool to be missed. Excellent stuff, really. Please, PLEASE keep it up!

ivansaid

People listen !! YABA,I encountered it in Thailand and became hoplessly addicted in a very short space of time, enevitably I ran out of money and found myself doing shameful things to get the drug , yes its a great high and a hugh come down, some people with no exp top themselves, i shudder to think what the long term mental and phisycal health implications may be. I thankfully got out of there after 9 months, being arrested and deported,I know of people who live in Thailand and have been at it for years, severe paranoia tendency to violence inability to feel love compassion etc, relentless relapse after trying to stop using, a real son of a bitch drug to be avoided it at all costs, avoid people who use it they will use and abuse you.

Abdul Quddussaid

I have been using this thing since two years. At first took it occassionaly then since last seven-eight months taking it almost daily, one to three pills each days session. Now I reduce it one pill daily and really made up my mind to quit from it forever. But I heard that suddenly quiting from it creates severe side effect which might leading toward death. I’m scared and need a kind suggestiom from anyone. Please help!

shonasaid

I take back the comment from before, You wont die if you give up..But its up to you to motivate your self, to determine yourself and commit yourself. You can quit..Its never late. It’ll only have an impact if you depress yourself over it. I’m on fb as donaldess duckling add me on there and i’ll try help you where I can. I’ve tried the drug only once..just to talk a loved one out of it… But it didn’t work.

safisaid

Dear Brother,
I was addicted to heroin and i hated myself for letting my body become a slave to some shitty brown powder.i tried to quit many times on my own but could’nt … one day i took my last giant fix and gathered enough courage to check myself into rehab. After five months i got out, physically it was ok but psychologically i was in hell. days went by in agony…then i was introduced to Yaba…wow i had found a reason to live again. did’nt take much time for me to get hooked and number of pills just got higher and higher, i used to stay awake for 72 hours straight have like 20-25 pills during that time. then slowly the paranoia and auditory hallucinations started and very soon it got much worse. i used to hear voices all around me all the time, and it felt like everyone i know was planning something against me. then one day the truth hit me, i realized that things i thought was happening all around me are all in my head..the crazy medicine really did make me crazy.

Brother,two and a half years have passed since i chased my last pill. Quitting yaba is not hard, if you really want to, you can do it just like that.physically it wont affect you a bit..you hear me..NOT ONE BIT..psychologically its a bit hard. You’ll have to keep yourself busy with something…try not to be alone…have company as much as possible…these things will help.

Brother, quit today, if your dosage is one pill per day, your body won’t miss a thing. Your mind is all that matters, don’t be scared, nothing will happen to you, believe me.

amitsaid

I am a Bangladeshi Drug User currently residing in Dhaka. I am also a UK citizen and have been living in the UK for long time. I have been experimenting with drugs including being a user, educating people, researching, its pathological, biological and chemical effects etc. Aithough I haven’t decided to publish any book or write any blog as of yet but I am in the process of setting up a charity to help the helpless (i.e. the drug users and their family). Since this forum is about Yaba I will briefly say some words you will not find anywhere else… Here goes

1. Yaba in asia is highly mixed and impure whether it be one of the three forms of pills for chasing the white dragon (in context of BD but applies to most yaba forms, baba is the common name):

– Chompa (very poor and cheap quality ) where it is suppose to be 75% metamphetamine and 25% caffiene its much less and contains other intoxicants. Red in color smells of vanilla and has the letters wy on it. Taste is bitter. Normal price.
– Golap (reasonable quality but still very mixed and impure) where it is supposed to be x2 of chompa in one pill its much less. It still has the letters wy on it but is color is pinkish with a smell of rose and should taste sweet. Double the normal price.
– R (Suppose to be highest in quality) Should be 95% metamphetamine and 5% cocaine but rarely has cocaine on it and much less % of metamphetamine. Four times the price of normal with the same size of pill – the color varies but should have the letter R on it.

Note: The point of this description is that it’s suppose to be a varient of the traditional meth (on whatever name you call it) available all over the world. But is nowhere near it. A similar quantity of crystal meth of one baba pill will knock you off ground. It will send
you on a paraniod (i.e. high state of alertness), delusive, hallucinogenic trip that you may not come back from and that is the meth that you should be scared off and stay away from not baba.

However, that is not to say baba or yaba is not dangerous..it certainly is life threating. Here are some important fast facts about yaba or baba:

– Does indeed give you the general effects as descibed above (not repeated to save time)

– Very addictive. Heres a saying “5 baba a day for a period of 30 days without break will keep the doctor away” – that is, 30 days is enough to get you hooked and make you do things that are common to addictive drugs (crime, suicidal tendencies on withdrawal etc etc)

– Does not really help with sex. It appears at first that it does but it really damages the reproductive system. It increases libido only artifically but without any erection power or ejaculatory control so useless really. Furthermore, since your system artifically increases the libido (i.e. similar to overclocking a microporcessor) over time your normal libido will absolutely disappear before it should in the normal ageing process leaving you sexless….lol haha…leaving you impotent and useless (mind my crude language but there is a risk of your wife being unsatisfied and consequently looking for another man to f***k and same applies to those who have gfs. So just remember that….)

I can write for pages but I am tired as of now.

Here is a quick damage summary:

– Since it creates an upsurge of the dopamine and its receptors in the brain you feel very good as its the same chemical that increases when we do something pleasurable i.e eat food, sex, achieve something etc etc. But it increases it in a large quantity leaving you immediately feeling very good and supremely confident. But when the effects wear out (i.e. out of body and brain – roughly 2 days after last session after sleep) your comedown are disasterous – maniac depression, severe paranoia (with a possibility of long term (this long term is really not that long depends on the user (i.e bmi and the amount of baba taken daily)) users having paranioa lead psychosis or schizophrenia which in lays man term means you really will become crazy /loonatic/madcap and will need to be electricuted and just put to sleep in a mental hospital…no other treatement in this situation as you have permanently changed your brain structure. In bengali simply you will become a “NANGTA PAGOL” – a waste of life.

– Permanently changes your brain structure in a very short time. The dopamine receptors at on time will completely shut down, so virtually that means you will never feel pleasure in anything that should be pleasurable.

– Unfortunately after a certain period no amount of phycological medicine can reverse the process of damage that you will cause to the brain and central nervous system.

Advise to light causal users quit asap. Best method is to switch to something else like phensidyl (even 3 bottles which not do you as much harm as baba) follow it by Ganja (THC). See a physiatrist for detoxification and medicine.

Comparitevly same as crack (rock form of cocaine) but infact more dangerous. Giving you similar buzz and time intensity but more cheaper, easier to get hold of and more damaging. It’s works on the same brain area as crack (i.e. increase dopamine and it receptors but additionally blocks the reuptake of the receptors which crack dosen’t do…) Uncontrollable in the sense that you want to take more and more and eventually overdose. Normal bmi bangladeshi people may overdose on just 20 babs…be careful. Never smoke alone.